Streaming device specialist Roku has unveiled a brand new home screen that offers a new experience, designed to find content more quickly.
- First major change to the Roku home screen in a decade
- Will be the first thing Roku TV and streaming stick users will see when turning on their device
- Rollout coming to the UK and across Europe later this year
Roku, the streaming specialist, has unveiled a new home screen that promises to offer “a more dynamic, smarter experience”.
The update mark the first significant change of the Roku home screen in over a decade. Roku that it’s been tested heavily with the new home screen “guided by behavioural insights and viewer input”.
Roku’s research indicated that a majority of streamers (82%) agreed they would love if they turned on their TV and the show they wanted to watch was right on their home screen. As a result, Roku’s new home screen will recommend content based on user’s interests and helping them to start watching faster.
If you prefer the home screen to stay the same each time you turn on, you may be in for a disappointment though. As it’s based on user interests, there’s billions of possible home screen combinations. Roku says its intelligence models will recommend content based on what you’ve been watching.
“When we set out to rethink the Home Screen, we knew we should listen to the people who use it every day. So we talked to the viewers, we tested extensively, and we pushed until the design and the data lined up for a meaningful update,” explained Anthony Wood, Founder and CEO, Roku. “Now, our new Home Screen puts entertainment at the center of everything, while staying true to Roku’s simple, intuitive roots. More than 100 million households will feel the difference the moment they turn on their TV—and it opens up a better, more powerful experience for our partners as well.”
These are the new Roku homepage features
- Quick Access to most used apps, continuously adapting to routines
- An intelligence-driven and expanded content-first ‘Top Picks for You’ section
- New genre-based destinations such as: For You, built on users’ interests and filled with personalised picks, and Subscriptions, allowing for a convenient way to browse and discover from across all subscriptions in one place
- Search in key destinations with relevant suggestions and results
- A streamlined collapsible menu
- Elevated shortcuts for everyday actions including Save List, Continued Watching, and more
- Your Daily Scoop, a dynamic row that brings a curated digest of breakout shows and cultural trends
- A Roku City tile, taking viewers to an interactive version of the screensaver
The new Home Screen has rolled out in the USA. We’ll be getting it across the UK and Europe in the “coming months”, according to Roku.
By: Marc Thornham | Image: Roku